Sunday Gravy with yeah right: Chicken Strips and Mojo Potatoes!

Howdy folks!

Pre-season football is in full swing and boy howdy can I feel opening day approaching like a goddamn forest fire.

I’ll give you a rough prediction of how I expect my team to finish during my upcoming team preview but just be aware I don’t have the highest of expectations.

Food-wise I’ve got a quick and easy one today that you could easily turn into a weeknight meal.

A quick background on the name “Mojo” potatoes. Mojos as we locals call them originated here.

Shakey’s Pizza! A California institution. Shakey’s still has about 50 locations throughout Southern California and a couple in Washington State as well.

Diatribe time: A few years back some no-talent hack of a writer that nobody even reads anymore used to make fun of this historic franchise by calling questionable play calls in an NFL game a Shakey Play of the week or some such moronic shit.

Listen Fuckbucket, you can’t move out here from the East coast and make fun of a goddamn institution just because it didn’t meet your idiotic “standards” or what-the-fuck-ever. You do not have the rights to make fun of this place. You haven’t even gotten close to earning those rights so piss off.

Shakey’s is about tradition and nostalgia. It was founded in California in 1954 and for many of us long time California residents it was the very first pizza many of us ever tried. Shit, my family used to drive 90 fucking miles from our barren-ass desert burg just to get their pizza.

Maybe it’s not the greatest pizza ever but when you visit a location and have that pizza set down on your table hot and fresh, it has a super crispy crust and a delicate sauce and it’s still goddamn delicious.

They also have fried chicken and the afore-mentioned Mojo potatoes.

Back in the “Before time” they had a daily feature called “Bunch of Lunch” and it allowed you to pay a fairly cheap price to come in and gorge yourself on as much pizza, fried chicken, Mojos, and salad (HAH!) as you could possibly shovel down.

[editors note: one of my employees says that this is location specific and that in some locations they do this today.]

Eldest Brother used to be a regular for this. He knew this cool trick where you ask the waitress to make your choice of pizza to your exact liking and they would make this pizza and set the hot pie right down in front of you when it was ready. You didn’t have to just stick to whatever sliced pie they had set out on the buffet line.

Neat trick.

Anyway, I have no idea if this concept will ever return because of well, you know, but goddammit it lives on in our memories.

For me? The highlight was the chicken and Mojos.

Mojo potatoes are basically dredged and fried using the exact same dredge and seasonings as the fried chicken and they are just fucking delightful.

I’m going to try a quick knock-off version today and see how well I can duplicate it. I’m also going to make some chicken strips and a couple of dipping sauces because why the fuck not.

Ready?

Let’s begin.

Let’s start with the sauces first.

The mojos are pretty much required to be served with ranch dressing so let’s do that ranch thing.

This version uses Hidden Valley Ranch mix, about 3/4 cup of mayo, yep we’re still using Blue Plate mayo, and about 1/2 cup of whole milk.

Und now ve combine!

Maybe some honey mustard sauce?

Sure. Why not?

It’s equal amounts mayo, dijon mustard and honey. I also added a splash of vinegar for tang and about 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

Give it a stir.

Cover both sauces with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bet your ass they’ll be more tasty the next day. So keep that in mind.

Mojo Potatoes!

recipe inspiration from pudgefactor.com  [holy fucking hell, the name of these cooking websites]

Flour dredge mix.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch 

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 ½ teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Wet mix

1/2 cup of whole milk

2 eggs – beaten

Get yourself some potatoes. I would suggest 1 potato per person.

Gonna experiment and peel one and leave the peel on the other. For the record, original Mojos are skin-on potatoes.

Now nuke the bastards!

About 5 minutes ought to do it. We don’t want to fully cook here. Just enough where they are soft and fluffy when finished in the frying oil.

Grab a gallon zip top bag and let’s make that seasoned flour. Dump in all of the ingredients and seal. Now shake the ever-loving shit out of that bag.

We made enough of the flour mix for both dishes. FYI, this flour will be the base for both the potatoes and the chicken strips but I’ll be adding a twist to the chicken dredge.

Take about half of that flour, put into a separate bowl and grate in some fresh parmigiano reggiano. Probably 1/3 of a cup.

This is the dredge for the chicken.

Prep our sheet pan with a good lube. You’ll remember this from our oven fried chicken post.

You have correctly surmised that I will be frying the Mojos but baking the chicken strips. Don’t say I never eat healthy.

Let’s get a gander at our poultry element.

We’re going boneless skinless breast today because if you’re making chicken strips instead of regular-ass delicious fried chicken, then you’re either cooking for kids or you’ve got a finicky and persnickety eater in the dining party.

For hygiene sake let’s cut up the potatoes before the chicken.

Cut them into, I don’t know, 1/4 inch slices or so? Those look like 1/4″ slices right?

And since we’re eating like 12 year-olds today instead of a veggie how about we slice up an apple?

These are “Cripps Pink Lady” apples because they are in season and they are fucking delicious. They have a nice tartness and a perfectly firm flesh with nary a bit of mealiness in sight.

Now you can slice up the chicken.

Ok then.

Let’s set up our dredge stations.

That’s for the chicken.

The bag of flour mix will be for the mojos. Go ahead and dredge everything and let the chicken and potatoes rest a few minutes to ensure the coating sticks during the cooking process.

Mojos first.

Into the egg wash for a nice coating then directly into the bag of flour. Give a few shakes to ensure proper coverage. You’ll need to work in batches here.

Let them rest on a different sheet pan than the one we’ll be using for the chicken.

Now dredge the chicken.

If this looks familiar that because it’s pretty fucking close to the way I prep chicken parmesan. Instead of the flattened chicken breasts though, we’re keeping the strips kind of chunky.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

The chicken will cook in the oven for a total time of 20 minutes, you’ll be turning them after the first 10 minutes.

Get after those potatoes now.

Heat a good size skillet over medium high heat on your stove top. If you’re using a thermometer this would be about 375 degrees. Add in a cup or so of cooking oil. I used canola but peanut oil would be great too. You want an oil with a high smoke point since the whole “medium/high heat” shit.

Five to 6 minutes per side, then flip.

When cooked, let each batch sit on a plate lined with a paper towel for drainage reasons.

Fuck it! Cook them all!

I’ll de dipped but those look a whole fucking lot like Mojo potatoes!

Let’s get that chicken out of the oven.

Sure you could have fried the strips too but I wanted to try a couple of cooking techniques and make a legitimate half-ass attempt to reduce the overall fat content.

It’s because I care!

Gather the sauces. I also used some Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce cuz that shit is tasty.

Plate it up already!

I’m not sure what compelled me to take a picture of my 2nd plate of food but for some reason I like the photo.

That’s a really solid representation of each part of the meal.

It also evokes a slight solitude as an emotion. As if the lonely strip and Mojo realize they are the last remaining survivors of their kind and are prepared to venture forth, alone and unafraid, into the void or into whatever happens next at the end of their lonely existence.

Nah, it’s just a nice close-up of each.

This was excellent. I love the parmesan kick on the chicken. The strips are perfectly juicy while being completely cooked through. When dipped into the sauces they are a terrific delivery vessel and add a little succulence to the bite. Great stuff that.

The Ranch was Ranch. You know what you are getting and I find that Hidden Valley makes the best of the dried mixes.

The honey mustard stuff is an all-star. That shit would be good for a lot of different applications. The Dijon gives it a nice punch to the sinuses while it’s mellowed out nicely by the honey.

Not to mention you can use the leftover sauces as dips for potato chips. You’ll find a use for the leftover sauces, trust me.

About them Mojos?

Dynamite! Perfect consistency. Exactly the textbook texture of a well prepared Mojo. There’s a good crispness to them, a nice all around spice blend, fluffy interior with a crisp exterior and they also work famously in every one of the dipping sauces.

But…

Next time I will absolutely use a wet batter instead of the dry flour dredge. The taste was bang on but there was just a little too much of a raw flour thing going with the potato. Not that it ruined the potatoes by any means just something I would tweak for the next time.

All in all, this was a damn tasty, super satisfying and easy to prepare menu. This would make pretty much anyone in your household happy exactly as made. 

Give it a try!

Always a pleasure to have you kind folks around.

We’re getting really close to the start of the season and there are only a couple of episodes remaining. You will have the NFL to ease your suffering though so I’m pretty sure you’ll survive.

Until next time…

Be Safe.

Be Well.

PEACE!